I was doing similar speaker research as the OP not long ago, and would like to add to something geoffkait said earlier regarding a specific speaker brand using common extension cord as speaker cable at a trade show.
Whilst doing the research, I stumbled across this site:
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/whitelightning/moonshine.html
I am not affiliated with this site nor is this an endorsement of it (they don't sell stuff, so this is no veiled sales pitch).
It seemed like a low-risk proposition, so I made up a set of cables for my system - which by no means is a high-level barn burner, but it sounds pretty damned decent to me. I found some white cord that matched the spec (which looks, really, quite nice coming off the speakers and disappearing into the rack) and I did go with bare wire at the speaker terminal. To provide some point of reference, my system consists of:
Denon AVR-X4000 (mid-level A/V receiver)
Hafler DH220 w/full Musical Concepts ugrade for front L/R
Magenpan MMG fronts
Adcom GFA6000 for center/surrounds
Paradigm Phantom v2 surrounds, Magnepan MMG-C center
Rhythmik FG12 (Audiogon classifieds find)
Denon DCD 1500 CD player
Akai GX-280D reel-to-reel
ADC Sound Shaper SS-325X (for reel)
Monoprice 22AWG interconnects across the board
As a self-taught guitar player (40+ years) and low-grade "audiophile", I consider myself to have a relatively "trained" ear. I get "imaging", "soundstage","airy", "bloated", "boomy", etc. And I'll be damned if these low-cost, extension cord speaker cables didn't add to an already good-sounding system. I got expanded soundstage dimension, depth, clarity, tightened mid-bass.......it added a sparkle and sharpness that even my wife and son noticed after about 30 seconds of listening. Would these speaker cables add anything to a high end system? Can't say. But if you've got the bread to burn on thousand-dollar cables, you certainly have it to burn on something such as these DIY-ers that could give you a really, really pleasant surprise. I know I got one, and will be hard-pressed to re-visit the "which speaker cable?" conundrum ever again.
Whilst doing the research, I stumbled across this site:
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/whitelightning/moonshine.html
I am not affiliated with this site nor is this an endorsement of it (they don't sell stuff, so this is no veiled sales pitch).
It seemed like a low-risk proposition, so I made up a set of cables for my system - which by no means is a high-level barn burner, but it sounds pretty damned decent to me. I found some white cord that matched the spec (which looks, really, quite nice coming off the speakers and disappearing into the rack) and I did go with bare wire at the speaker terminal. To provide some point of reference, my system consists of:
Denon AVR-X4000 (mid-level A/V receiver)
Hafler DH220 w/full Musical Concepts ugrade for front L/R
Magenpan MMG fronts
Adcom GFA6000 for center/surrounds
Paradigm Phantom v2 surrounds, Magnepan MMG-C center
Rhythmik FG12 (Audiogon classifieds find)
Denon DCD 1500 CD player
Akai GX-280D reel-to-reel
ADC Sound Shaper SS-325X (for reel)
Monoprice 22AWG interconnects across the board
As a self-taught guitar player (40+ years) and low-grade "audiophile", I consider myself to have a relatively "trained" ear. I get "imaging", "soundstage","airy", "bloated", "boomy", etc. And I'll be damned if these low-cost, extension cord speaker cables didn't add to an already good-sounding system. I got expanded soundstage dimension, depth, clarity, tightened mid-bass.......it added a sparkle and sharpness that even my wife and son noticed after about 30 seconds of listening. Would these speaker cables add anything to a high end system? Can't say. But if you've got the bread to burn on thousand-dollar cables, you certainly have it to burn on something such as these DIY-ers that could give you a really, really pleasant surprise. I know I got one, and will be hard-pressed to re-visit the "which speaker cable?" conundrum ever again.